As Superdunk said above, if you show us the full roster of you and your opponent, we can better help you. I'm also abit surprised your 4-4-2 struggled with that formation. Maybe switching out a DC for a DMC would help you!

Did you max your win bonus? What was your players morale and conditioning at kickoff?

What has been the recent form of your players? (this I think is sometimes more important than how many stars your player has. I have a 4 star MC that always gets 7's and 8's and I just released a 6 star MC that never got above a 6. Both are right footed and I play both in the same position).